Cycling Alaska to Colombia and other travels

Many rivers to cross….

We left Cartagena, which was a bit of a bottleneck for cyclists. While we were there we met 6 other cyclists which was really great, swapping stories and comparing routes, we headed out of Cartagena with two Dutch cyclists, Joost and Michiel and a Belgium cyclist Siska. The other cyclists had already left but we planned to met them again in a few days. It was lovely to be back on the bikes after a good rest.

Leaving Cartagena was busy with traffic, but we were heading to an old colonial town called Mompos and soon were able to turn off the highway into the countryside.

Hiding from the sun under a truck, on the ferry across to Mompos.

We had heard there had been a lot of flooding in this area, which we could see as soon as we got off the ferry, but it was lovely to ride alongside.

Brick ovens along the way.

Our first sights of the flood damage on the way to Mompos.

Santa Barbara church, Mompos. We had really enjoyed wandering around Cartagena but Mompos was even better, with its very hot, sleepy streets and beautiful buildings.

Mompos.

It was so peaceful wandering around, some of the 18th century buildings are still used for the same purpose, even the rundown ones still looked lovely.

Beautiful old doors and locks.

La Casa Amarilla, our guest house, which was so lovely we could have stayed for weeks. We were again 8 cyclists here, as we met up with Cass from England and Arnold and Ann Claire from Belgium.

Overloading.

The graveyard at Mompos, with walls of graves.

Gravestones.

Mompos.

Lightning from the roof of the guest house.

Getting to Mompos had been straight forward and the floods had not effected us much, leaving was a different story. It was raining when we left so we were soon riding in the mud.

At least someone was enjoying it.

Muddy bikes.

The sun was back out but the ride soon turned into an adventure, with roads flooded or washed away..

Luckily everything is possible here and we all piled on to a little boat, this was the first boat of many. It was amazing 6 cyclists in one little canoe.

Taking the back roads.

Some of the boats were really small and very wobbly.

Cass and Joost smiling while trying not to fall in.

It was a long day with all the river crossings, but a lovely evening as we arrived into the town of El Banco.

Something other than floods, little chicks for sale.

El Banco, in the morning we really saw how flooded the town was.

It was crazy how much water there was here, the only way out of town, other than the way we had come in was by boat, which took us 20km or so to where the road was clear again.

It was a great adventure and well worth it to see Mompos and the area around, it was also amazing to see people just get on with life even with such bad floods, they have had flooding here since November, but everyone stills carries on. We are now heading up into the mountains so hopefully not so many river crossing.